Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) has clarified that some of the journalists whose name appeared in the list of media personnel who had taken money from the erstwhile royal regime had never approached or received the sum.

The MoIC said Friday that after scientific investigation carried out by the Central Police Laboratory in Kathmandu, it was found that somebody else had forged the signatures of journalists Tirtha Koirala, Babita Basnet, Arjun Khadka, Jagdish Sharma, Yubaraj Bidrohi, Dilli Basel, Bal Kumar Nepal and Bisworaj Khadka, among others, and received money doled out by the royal regime in their names.

Upon request from the journos concerned, the Ministry had sent original signatures of the above journalists to police. Police later said their signatures did not tally with those in the Ministry’s records. The Ministry said it is still trying to find out who forged the signatures and received the money.

Tirtha Koirala—who is general secretary of Nepal Press Institute (NPI) and news editor of Kantipur TV—had resigned from both the positions after his name appeared in the list of those who received money from the royal regime. Both the organizations, however, did not accept his resignation since the police was investigating the allegations.

Talking to Nepalnews on Saturday, chief editor of Ghatana ra Bichar weekly and president of Sancharika Samuha Nepal , Babita Basnet, said she was happy that her name was finally cleared. “But mental torture and social stigma that I had to suffer after my name appeared in the list mysteriously was immense,” said Basnet. She demanded that the government conduct thorough investigation into the scandal and punish the guilty.

Similarly, president of the Kathmandu district branch of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ), Yubaraj Bidrohi, alleged that a vested interest group was behind the scandal to defame journalists who fought relentlessly in favour of press freedom and against the royal regime. “I will file a case of defamation against the Ministry,” he said.

The erstwhile royal government had doled out millions of rupees in the name of “peace dissemination” to journalists close to the regime and those who agreed to support the regime for personal benefits.

The government made the list public last month after organizations including the FNJ demanded that the name of the individual journalists and organisations who received money “unethically and illegally” from the state coffers be exposed.